Once again, the intimidation games started with the opening faceoff. This time Kesler was ready and made a point of dumping Couture on his ass.

Reminded again that Torts does not have an after whistle scrum ban. So nice to see Stanton stand up for Luongo and take down Desjardins. A very welcome change in tactics with the new regime. San Jose's silliness post whistle was negated and for the most part absent.

While Henrik's scoring streak ended, his line also shut down the Sharks top line. The Canucks second line and for the most part, third line, won their match ups vs the Pavelski and Thorton lines.

Jumbo Joe, third line centre. Odd with the way he's been such a thorn in Henrik's side over the years that McLellan went away from that match up.

Niemi played as I remember he plays. Poor rebound control, very poor at tracking a puck bouncing around four feet in front of the net. It is why I have always advocated throwing anything and everything at the net against him. It is usually 35 shot against him before he breaks down, not one shot.

The Sharks dominated the opening of the game with speed and sharp hard passes. They were able to break out before the Vancouver forecheck could catch the defence, but as Vancouver's forecheck started gaining momentum, the ice began to tilt putting the Sharks in the deep end of the tank.

Once again, puck support was crucial. Look at the Higgins goal, Burrows with the puck takes out two defenders, Higgins trails in support and scoops the loose disk for the chip shot.

Stanton is so steady defensively he's filled the vacancy of Salo back there.

Very dramatic shift in the game after Niemi was pulled. The game slowed down, both teams lost a gear.

Is Burns the Sharks Kesler that stirs the drink?

Before this road trip began, I wanted seven of eight points - on track.

Last edited by Topper on Fri Nov 08, 2013 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

I said in the beginning this would be one of the best tests for the Nucks in the last few weeks and they really came out flying. Agree with what you said below Topper, this and the "flashing green light" for the D is one change I really like from the team this year.

Also Luongo did not look too rattled after the first goal.

Once again, the intimidation games started with the opening faceoff. This time Kesler was ready and made a point of dumping Couture on his ass.

Reminded again that Torts does not have an after whistle scrum ban. So nice to see Stanton stand up for Luongo and take down Desjardins. A very welcome change in tactics with the new regime. San Jose's silliness post whistle was negated and for the most part absent.

Well, well well...the Sharks are human. Are they just coming back down to earth (they we bound to, at least a bit), or is this another rip roaring start followed by a fizzle out?

Santorelli and Richardson have been awesome pick-ups...what more can you say? I've been kind of waiting for them to show me why they have failed in the past, but in the first 18 games I haven't seen much to be down on.

For those of you wanting to trade Tanev, Tanev to Stanton or Corrado is a big drop off!

I loved Stanton feeding a few fists to Desjardins.

A couple of our defensemen looked like they were skating in wet concrete last night. Garrison in particular really struggled to stay ahead of the play.

I was impressed with Kassian's interview in the second intermission. He sounded like a guy who has matured a lot by the way he was talking about making the little plays.

If Kesler is the guy who stirs the drink up front, Juice has become the guy who stirs it on the back end. He has performed really well under Torts thus far.

I'm really liking what I see out of Archibald. He's got size and seems to understand how to play effectively on the wing. We haven't seen much offensively, and he needs to work on his skating, but he already does a lot of the little things we want to see more out of Kassian. I'm waiting to see him start throwing fists...we know he has it in him! If he keeps it up, Sestito or Weise will find themselves on waivers if we ever get healthy.

I'm feeling really good and really confident about playing the Kings on Saturday.

Very hard to believe that I would've been feeling this way about 7-8 months ago. I still don't see the Canucks going past the 2nd round this year, but I'm not anywhere near as sure about this as I was 3-4 weeks ago. Torts and team is making me a believer again. Speaking of the Kings..........

"To the families and friends of Rodney King, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald Goldman, and the kids at Neverland Ranch.......you're welcome."

(Tis' what I posted/spammed on the LA Kings' Facebook page and twitter after the Kings lost to the Blackhawks last spring).

herb wrote:I'm really liking what I see out of Archibald. He's got size and seems to understand how to play effectively on the wing. We haven't seen much offensively, and he needs to work on his skating, but he already does a lot of the little things we want to see more out of Kassian. I'm waiting to see him start throwing fists...we know he has it in him! If he keeps it up, Sestito or Weise will find themselves on waivers if we ever get healthy.

I don't see any problem with Archibalds skating. In fact I would say it's quite a bit above average for a man his size. I am in agreement with you that what we're seeing from him is good stuff,and he seems to be improving every game.

Secondary scoring.......finally!! Great game from alot of players not on the first line.

Topper wrote:The falloff from that highlights how complacent the group had become.

Yes. AV is a superb coach. But coaches have a shelf life. The players got too comfortable under AV and it showed. It was time to move on.

I'm kind of in two minds about AV.

I don't think there's any doubt that he was a very good coach (i.e. tons of success in Vancouver), but I'm not sure if I'd consider him to be a "great" coach like Joel Quennville, Claude Julien, Darryl Sutter, etc.

A lot of times when the Canucks' have lost playoff series' (i.e. Chicago twice, Boston, and LA), Vigneault was out-coached quite badly.

Numerous times in the past, I suggested that Kesler play alongside the twins.........and Vigneault never experimented with that idea ONE TIME outside of the Power Play. Torts comes here and puts those three together almost immediately.......and look what's happening.

Last year for instance - why not give it a go? Or hell - even against Boston and LA when it was OBVIOUS that we were having great difficulty scoring.

Vigneault seemed very stuck in his ways and "rigid", whereas it seems that Torts is always willing to make adjustments and go with those that are playing hot.

The Brown Knight wrote:Vigneault seemed very stuck in his ways and "rigid", whereas it seems that Torts is always willing to make adjustments and go with those that are playing hot.

I think all good coaches are rigid in their philosophies. Torts certainly is.

As has been noted elsewhere on this board, AV had this mantra of "playing the right way" and good things will happen. He didn't want guys to get emotional, or get involved in the after the whistle stuff.

I think his "playing the right way" philosophy works great in an 82 game regular season where the bounces and averages have a way of working themselves out over a long time horizon. In a playoff series, quick adjustments and getting any sort of little advantage are absolutely critical. Look no further than the San Jose series to see a perfect example of how quickly you can fall behind in games and in a series.

Frankly, I'm quite happy with the way things have worked out. AV's shelf life had expired, and we ended up getting an excellent replacement.

herb wrote:A couple of our defensemen looked like they were skating in wet concrete last night. Garrison in particular really struggled to stay ahead of the play.

I I think it was the home game against Toronto in which Garrison went awkwardly into the boards behind Luongo with a Leaf player and came out hobbling. He was then in noticeable discomfort on the bench and looked slow for the rest of the game and in Phoenix as well. Could be he's nursing a minor lower body injury right now.

I was impressed with Kassian's interview in the second intermission. He sounded like a guy who has matured a lot by the way he was talking about making the little plays.

Kassian in slowly buying in and finding his game. I think that Torts is giving him a more defined role, and the lack of an after the whistle nazi behind the bench can only serve to make him more comfortable playing a physical game when his new coach is OK with a penalty if it comes from being too aggressive when throwing a hit or pursuing the puck. I had hoped we might see some magic from him this year and maybe 20 goals. A couple of hot streaks might get him in that neighborhood, but I'll be happy with 15 goals and 30 point from him if he continues to be physical and stick up for his teammates. He'll get there, but like so many power forward style big guys it will be a slower development.

If Kesler is the guy who stirs the drink up front, Juice has become the guy who stirs it on the back end. He has performed really well under Torts thus far.

Bieksa a has really surprised me this year. His off-season comments about a new coach had me thinking he was one of the country club supporters and would want out when the new coach turned out to be a demanding bench boss who shortens the bench and sits the guys who aren't getting it done or are turning in an error filled night. Instead Juice has re-engaged again and has his swagger that we have missed since 2011.